Arms for Ukraine

Ammunition, weapons and other military equipment bound for Ukraine in Delaware, US, January 21, 2022 \ Reuters Photo
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Additional Troops Gather in EU Countries

With Russia recently deploying over 130,000 troops near its border with Ukraine, the West is concerned that Moscow is preparing to invade its neighbour. The State Department has given the go-ahead for Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia to transfer American-made lethal weapons, including anti-armour and ground-to-air missiles, to Ukraine. In December, Peeter Kuimet, head of Estonia’s International Cooperation Department, said Tallinn was considering sending Ukraine its Javelin anti-armor missiles and 122-mm howitzers. The same month, Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anušauskas also pledged to send lethal weapons to Ukraine.

But Tel Aviv issued “an almost unheard-of preemptive denial” to prevent the Baltic states from sending Israel-made weapons to Ukraine. The move was perceived as driven by “Israel’s need to balance its relations with Russia”. The US and Israel put strict “end-user” regulations on weapons sold abroad, legally restricting the ability of the buying nation to send the equipment to a third party without permission from the producer. Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian armed forces own Spike anti-tank missiles, jointly built by Israeli and German companies.

US President Joe Biden has approved the deployment of some 3,000 additional American troops to eastern NATO member countries. The Pentagon is expected to announce that the troops will deploy “in the coming days”, according to CNN. The deployments will include around 2,000 troops to Poland and additional forces to southeastern NATO countries, including Romania. However, Washington will not send any troops to Ukraine.

The deployments to Eastern Europe are aimed at reassuring NATO allies that they would be protected from any Russian aggression. There are currently 4,000 American troops deployed to Poland, as well as about 100 in Lithuania, and 60 in Latvia and Estonia on temporary, rotational assignment.

German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said Germany is considering deploying extra troops in Lithuania in response to Russia‘s military build-up near Ukraine. In an interview Lambrecht said Germany was “already making an important contribution in Lithuania” by leading NATO Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) battlegroup. “As a matter of principle, additional troops are available as reinforcement, and we are in talks with Lithuania at the moment to find out what exactly would make sense in this regard,” she added.

Lithuanian Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas said “The conversations on that are definitely ongoing. For Lithuania, it’s a very important message and part of boosting the deterrence policy”.

NATO countries have recently been reinforcing their presence in the eastern flank of the alliance. The UK has said it will double its contingent of troops in Estonia, where it leads the eFP battlegroup. The first of the US troops arrived on February 5 at Rzeszow military base in southeastern Poland. Currently, NATO has four multinational combat units with some 5,000 troops in total in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. They were sent there in response to Russia‘s annexation of Crimea in 2014. The eFP groups, led by the US, Germany, Canada, and Britain, are meant to stall an attack in the region and buy time for additional NATO troops to reach the frontline.

Lambrecht also ruled out supplying Kyiv with arms after Ukraine‘s embassy in Germany sent a list with specific requests to the foreign and defence ministries in Berlin, according to Reuters.

The list included missile defence systems, tools for electronic warfare, night vision goggles, digital radios, radar stations, and military ambulances.

Lithuanian Armed Forces have raised their readiness status due to the upcoming military drills in Belarus that will also involve Russian troops, Chief of Defence Lieutenant General Valdemaras Rupšys said in an interview with BNS on February 7. The military drills are scheduled for February 10-20, adding to the West’s concerns about the security situation in Central and Eastern Europe.

LRT.lt